NOW on the News with Maria Hinojosa

Todd Gitlin on the Libby Verdict

This week, Maria Hinojosa speaks with political writer and Columbia University Professor Todd Gitlin about the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial and its wider historical perspective.

Interview Excerpts

"This wouldn't be the first time that a high administration official was in the business of lying to investigatory agencies. This is, in fact, perhaps an occupational requirement."

"What Libby, I believe, accomplished with his lies was to prevent the indictment of Dick Cheney. Mission accomplished. Is that where it ends? Doesn't America have a claim, now, on its Vice President?"

"The way I would put it is that for six years, the U.S. government has been ruled by an apparatus of power that has taken as its métier and its obligation to mislead the American people about central matters of state."

"The reality has been that nothing, nothing, mass demonstrations, news articles, exposés, lobbying, even elections of contrary party officials at various times, none of this has really retarded the furtherance of the agenda of this administration."

"The press has been, by and large, bending over backwards to pretend that this is a normal administration and that what's been going on is normal politics. This is not normal politics. This is gangster politics."

About Todd Gitlin

Todd Gitlin is a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University and author of 12 books mainly on media and contemporary America. His most recent book is "The Intellectuals and the Flag."

Gitlin is a former president of the activist group Students for a Democratic Society and helped organize the first national demonstration against the Vietnam War, as well as the first civil disobedience directed against American corporate support for the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Gitlin contributes to many newspapers and magazines, is a member of the editorial board of Dissent, and is a contributor to TPMcafe.com. His upcoming book "The Bulldozer and the Big Tent" will be published by John Wiley & Sons in October 2007.